victor in the snow

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brianu
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victor in the snow

Post by brianu »

I took some shots of the victor buildings in camden this afternoon after cabin fever compelled an exit from the apartment...
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brianu
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Re: victor in the snow

Post by brianu »

....
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brianu
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Re: victor in the snow

Post by brianu »

the photos...

first shot, heading west down cooper street toward the few remaining buildings of the once sprawling complex... philadelphia is across the delaware river in the background... apparently in this sort of weather they used to hold horse-drawn sleigh races down this formerly affluent street a hundred years or so ago... on the right is the original administration building, moving to the left is the deteriorating one that developers have been talking about converting to condos for more than a few years now, and further to the left is building 17, the one that's been converted to apartments...

next two shots, front and rear of the administration building, which presently houses camden city's board of education offices...

the next three shots, the ailing building that may one day be condos or at least something more useful... first shot facing west, next from the side, last while facing east...

next shot, the victor apt building, from the northwest while looking back up cooper street...

next shot, from the far south east corner of the complex, showing all three buildings...

next two shots, southeast corner of apt building (while standing on market street, which runs parallel to cooper street, and looking toward the river again), and a closer up image of the southeast corner of the tower...

next two shots, the victor building from the southwest... from that position, the last two shots after turning around to face the river and center city philadelphia.

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SonnyPhono
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Re: victor in the snow

Post by SonnyPhono »

Thanks for the great pics, Brian. I haven't seen those buildings before so I loved looking through them!

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Henry
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Re: victor in the snow

Post by Henry »

Next to last shot: Ben Franklin bridge, which was the world's longest (533 meters) suspension bridge from 1926-29 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Bridge), locally known as "The Ben" to distinguish it from its neighbor downstream on the Delaware, the Walt Whitman bridge (The Walt). Last shot shows Philadelphia looking west across the Delaware. You can't see City Hall with its statue of Billy Penn because of the tall buildings. Camden looks nice in the snow, doesn't it? I wish it good luck; it certainly has been challenged in recent years. The loss of Victor was undoubtedly part of the reason for Camden's decline.

Thanks for the pix!

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Re: victor in the snow

Post by bbphonoguy »

Thanks for the great photos. I didn't know the "Nipper" windows were missing so many pieces. I had thought they'd been restored.

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Re: victor in the snow

Post by Valecnik »

Thanks for the photos, a nice tour. I also had a look at www.victorlofts.com. It looks like they've really nicely redeveloped the property. Even though it was just an industrial building, there's so much more character there than there would be in another glass tower.

On the satellite impage provided by google maps you can even see the roof patios and it looks like some units have small individual patios with tables outside overlooking the courtyard.

Looking at the satellite image, what's the building across the street and one block over to the right, away from the river. It's the only one on it's block, surrounded by a very formal looking park, all very symetrical like a small Versailles.

Also, what's the large building below the victor building, shaped like a giant "H". It looks to be renovated also. At least it appears the grounds have been re-lanscaped. Is that part of the complex?

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Re: victor in the snow

Post by schweg »

Brian, Thanks for the pictures. It looks like the renovation has done a lot for the area. I visited the aquarium two years ago and thought it was nice. I hope improvements continue in the area. I almost went to Rutgers in Camden but just didn't think the location of the campus was in a good place so went elsewhere. Maybe with continued improvement, that will become a more desirable location for students.

Steve

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Re: victor in the snow

Post by brianu »

Valecnik wrote:Thanks for the photos, a nice tour. I also had a look at http://www.victorlofts.com. It looks like they've really nicely redeveloped the property. Even though it was just an industrial building, there's so much more character there than there would be in another glass tower.

On the satellite impage provided by google maps you can even see the roof patios and it looks like some units have small individual patios with tables outside overlooking the courtyard.

Looking at the satellite image, what's the building across the street and one block over to the right, away from the river. It's the only one on it's block, surrounded by a very formal looking park, all very symetrical like a small Versailles.

Also, what's the large building below the victor building, shaped like a giant "H". It looks to be renovated also. At least it appears the grounds have been re-lanscaped. Is that part of the complex?

the versailles looking property has become something of a multi-purpose community center, used mainly for its stage/theater for plays and other such productions. originally it was a free library that I believe - I'll have to check - was constructed in the 20's with significant assistance by, who else, eldridge and the victor company... unless I'm confusing some not often recalled facts. a photo is attached, again in the snow that covered this part of the state with nearly two feet over friday night and saturday (the photo was taken while standing on cooper street (which leads to the river) and facing north looking toward the facade of the building... at the front of the entranceway as you can see is a large fountain with iron sculptures depicting peter pan at the top with children at play below)...

the other H shaped building is not part of the complex, just a new office building constructed within the past 10 years. all that empty space, by the way, the parking lots on either side of the victor apt building, and heading closer to the river, was all once covered, up until the great implosions of the late 90's, with the several other buildings that formerly contained the VTM co.
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Henry
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Re: victor in the snow

Post by Henry »

bbphonoguy wrote:Thanks for the great photos. I didn't know the "Nipper" windows were missing so many pieces. I had thought they'd been restored.
I believe that at least two of the Nipper windows are replicas. One original is in the Smithsonian; another is in the library of Widener College (I've seen both of these, although my recollection of the Smithsonian one is vague). Don't know for sure about the rest, but I thought I had read somewhere that ALL of the originals had been removed and these ones are all replicas. Can anyone confirm this?

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